Literacy at Play

  
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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. From the Classroom
3. From the Atlantic Canada English Language Arts Curriculum
4. From the Past
5. Some book suggestions
6. Newsletter Information

Literacy at Play

"Recent expansion of research in the area of play and its effects on learning firmly supports the notion that concrete objects and experiences manipulated by children at play are the prerequisites to successful acquisition of more abstract skills such as learning to read." The Reading Teacher (Vol36)

But how does this happen? What is the relationship between play and literacy? Isenberg and Jacob (1983) claim that "symbolic play, the process of transforming an object or oneself into another object, person, situation, or event through the use of motor and verbal actions in a make believe activity, provides an important source for literacy development". It does so because literacy means handling words in such a way as to represent objects, ideas, or actions. The work of both Piaget and Vygotsky suggests that this ability to handle symbolic systems has immense potential for facilitating literacy development. Nigel Hall.

Once the child has the power to pretend s/he is also in a position to try out different roles and to do so in relation to other children whose concepts of those roles may be different. As children's social circles widen they imitate and begin to appropriate multiple registers and different uses of language.

At play, children are empowered to use language on their own terms, in their own way, and at their own time. Language develops through:

Playing with sounds and developing phonemic awareness, from the rhythmic cooing of babyhood to the chants, rhymes and tongue twisters of early childhood and later, to deciphering code and communicating with invented languages.

Taking on a role and using the language of power, using language in more sophisticated ways beyond the ways they use it in ordinary, everyday life.

Using the language of negotiation and decision making to construct dramatic scenarios with other children.

Using the language of elaboration and possibility to transform their ordinary surroundings into the props they need for their play.

Inventing stories in action and becoming increasingly knowledgeable about the way in which stories are structured, characterized and plotted. For further reading Cultivating the Language of Literate Play: Transforming the self, transforming the world. Nason & Hunt. Available through The Early Childhood Centre, UNB.

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From the Classroom

We love the way literature changes the play in the room. Messing with text, changing a character's name to your name, improving a story line, rescuing an overly moral tale, changing the ending, are just some of the irreverent ways we play with literature. We can see the children playing with text as they compare and challenge different versions of a story that they love. "The video is different." "Why are the illustrations different?" The Paperbag Princess has been reenacted in a variety of ways by the time we are all finished with Munsch's book.

We cherish book-based jokes and life to text, text to life connections made by children. The vocabulary of books improves our dramatic play, our paintings, our writing. After reading Babushka's Doll, by Patricia Polacco everyone in our room remembers the slightly dramatized argument over what a "babushka" was. And most of us were happy that the dictionary allowed both Connie and Peter to be right. Connie Kavanaugh, Multi age Classroom and Peter Gorham, Art, K-6&10, John Caldwell School, District 13

Every year I place pencils, markers and various sizes of paper in every centre in my room. I have witnessed children reaching for these items to aid in various aspects of their play and telling me when the materials have run out, needing to be replenished. This always reinforces the importance of having pencils and paper readily available for the children no matter where they choose to spend their play time. Jennifer MacNeill, Kindergarten, St. John the Baptist and King Edward School, District 8

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From the Atlantic Canada English Language Arts Curriculum

Drama can be a powerful medium for language and personal growth . . . Dramatic play is a natural and unstructured childhood activity. Dramatic play can be encouraged by setting up a drama centre with dress-up clothes and simple props.

Role-play can deepen and extend students' response to literature, and provide opportunities to develop problem solving skills and imagination. P.233

Students will be expected to write in play situations (e.g., making grocery lists, making signs, playing school, preparing menus ) p.112.

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From the Past

Patty Smith Hill (1868-1946) was an educator and founder of the National Association for Nursery Education, which later became the National Association for the Education of Young Children. She believed play was a valuable learning experience. She introduced play equipment, such as rhythm instruments and large hollow blocks to promote learning. She created songs with and for children, including "Happy Birthday to You." She understood the value of dramatic play as an activity that helped children to understand and manipulate symbols, an important precursor to learning to read and write. This is part of what she said in a speech given at Teachers College, N.Y. in 1911:

"The doll is the hero, the heroine, the centre of dramatic play . . . In the main the child himself and the doll play the same role. They are Hamlet in the play - the other toys are the setting to further the dramatization of his own life, or through his representative - in toy land- the doll. The doll, thus represents humanity. It is a symbol of humanity - in the best sense of symbol."

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Some Book Suggestions

All books invite us to imagine at a basic level. The print on the page needs to be imagined as ideas that we can entertain in our minds, play with, wrestle with, escape with. The following books are particularly good at tickling the imagination in one way or another.

Jumanji. Your children have probably seen the video, but have they read the book? Chris Van Allsburg's surrealistic black and white illustrations give substance to the imaginative story about what happens when a board game becomes real. 1981 Houghton Mifflin

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran and illustrated by Barbara Cooney, 1992, Puffin, is a true story remembered by Marian as an old woman. "There, across the road, it looked like any hill- nothing but sand, rocks, some old wooden boxes and thorny plants- but to the children who played there, it was a special place.

" Would you rather . . ., John Burningham, 1978 Jonathan Cape, Ltd. With the help of Burningham's busy illustrations the reader is invited to imagine and then choose their own particular adventure. "Would you rather have supper in a castle, breakfast in a balloon or tea by the river?"

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Newsletter Information

Early Childhood Centre News is published by the

Early Childhood Centre,
Faculty of Education,
University of New Brunswick
P.O. Box 4400,
Fredericton, NB
E3B 5A3.

Editors: Anne Hunt, Pam Nason and Pam Whitty